Connections (F1 story)

Chapter Thirty Three: There and Then

Writer's note: Extra long part to make up for not updating as frequently hope you like it x

The other three nights in Monaco flashed by and before I knew it I was back working at the factory, enduring twelve hour shifts in order to make up for my 'days off'. Daniel was in Milton Keynes too, mainly in the simulator in preparation for Silverstone- tomorrow marked his twenty-fifth birthday.

His friends were around too, although had spent the last three nights on the south coast of England, touring on their bikes. The original plan had been for Daniel to accompany them, but a series of important meetings and car developments had caused that to be cut short.

Little did I know that he was also supposed to have done promotional work for Qantas, but he had postponed that until the summer break, where he had also revealed to me that ultimately he wanted to be in Australia for his birthday but knew that with the amount of things going on in the UK, it wasn't feasible unless he was planning on a three night stay- something which would fuck the body clock up completely.

His friends had welcomed me, thus, in all due respect left me to my own devices as Lizzie and I worked and explored Monte Carlo ourselves, giving the boys time together- something which they rarely got. In fact, Lizzie and I booked into a local hotel last minute. Daniel's apartment soon turned into utter chaos when the guys arrived (okay, it wasn't exactly tidy when it was just the three/ four of us there, but still).

Lizzie, over the course of the few days, had eaten a heck of a lot of ice-cream and had consoled herself by that and maximizing her credit card limit; admittedly I had done too and purchased a little something for the Australian's birthday.

It wasn't much, however after all the additional flights to and from the UK to visit my parents soon added up, as well as clubbing and meals out and... I really had to start being more careful. It was times like this that I was thankful that I had been sponsored to go to University, even if it was by BT. No tedious student loans to pay off.

Typical of a British 'summer's day' it was raining. But it wasn't the usual pathetic spots of the stuff that usually fell, instead it was a full on torrential downpour which could be heard throughout the Red Bull Racing Factory.

Puddles of water formed outside the building, and I watched as the guys ran across from Building 2 (extremely well named, I know) instantly to make cover from the relentless weather. The wind blew strongly too. It was altogether a horrible day- it made me wish that I was back in the sun, where I had been just a mere four nights ago.

After a mountain of emails had been responded to and final preparations made for the conferences I had arranged, I took my lunch break at two p.m -the time that Ricciardo finished his lot of simulated runs with his engineer, Simon.

I took this as an opportunity to brief him on his upcoming schedule, or at least that was the plan until Paul appeared too.

"Good afternoon, Dan." I gave the Aussie a warm smile as I prohibited him from taking a panini and instead handed the last pot of stir fry to him, gently placing what he originally had down. I didn't fully realise that I had called him by his shortened name too.

"I've trained you well." I spun around to see Paul smirking. Daniel was frowning.

"It was just a test for you both." Ricciardo protested bashfully, instead handing me the stir fry and grabbing a salad for himself. He knew how much I loved that stuff.

"Bullshit." Paul sighed. "Anyway, you two fancy a ride after you've finished?"

I paused, Daniel paused. It was not the weather, even for a bike enthusiast like him.